The Early History of Psychoanalysis in San Francisco

The early history of psychoanalysis in San Francisco formally begins with the opening of Alfred Kroeber's psychoanalytic office in 1918 and ends with the death of Siegfried Bernfeld in 1953. Between those years, San Francisco witnessed a small group of Americans and European émigrés coming together and creating the foundation of psychoanalysis in San Francisco. The issues dominating the day were those of lay analysis, psychoanalytic training models and World War II. Within this small psychoanalytic community, there were a number of extremely creative analysts who, along with the rest, participated in some rare moments in which a creative and ecumenical spirit prevailed and others in which divisiveness limited them.

Without a historical context, those of us in the depth psychologies tend to become arrogant and assert the ahistorical and timeless truth of our views. We fall victim to ‘the narcissism of minor differences’ and project our dreaded other onto the various others around us whether they be pop psychology innovators, old guard upholders of the dogma, or just our theoretical cousins. But psychoanalysis is not a natural science. It is a historical science. Nathan Adler used to say, ‘Every generation must rediscover psychoanalysis for itself.’ And I would add that we must contextualize our discoveries and re-discoveries in the social, historical and economic moment in which we are situated.